City of Steamboat will abandon ship and replace Yampa River Queen with new playground

Parks supervisor Ernie Jenkins said the Yampa River Queen was built sometime in the 1980s at West Lincoln Park.

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — Children in Steamboat Springs who want to play the role of Mark Twain and experience life behind the wheel of a large riverboat will need to gather their crew and head to West Lincoln Park sometime soon to act out the fantasy before it's too late.

As soon as next summer, the city's iconic steamboat-themed playground will either sink under a wrecking ball or sail away to a new home.

The Yampa River Queen's fate was sealed this week when the city's parks and recreation commission voted unanimously to endorse a plan to replace the more than 30-year-old playground structure with a combination of new interactive playground amenities and a shaded structure that might resemble a hay or horse shed.

A conceptual rendering shows the proposed shade structure for West Lincoln park.

Designers of the new shaded structure said it could pay tribute to the city's western heritage and become a new gathering place for visitors and community members.

City officials said the River Queen has been anchored in the park for too long and is falling apart.